Sirdar Design No. 10838 In Jewelspun Ombre Aran

 

 For months last year, every time I went into the village and walked/ran past the wool shop, this beautiful pink/yellow jumper in the window would catch my eye!  The colour was amazing, even on an early morning December run in the dark.

In January I was in the village with 'im outdoors and so I made a point of showing him and he sent me inside to buy the wool and instructions!

So I came home with the Sirdar Design No. 10838 booklet and two balls of Jewelspun Ombre Aran yarn in Rainbow Glow. 

 

I wanted to start right away but I waited until I'd finished the Powdermill Cardy. (Typical that I finish an aran jumper in the middle of a heatwave so can't wear it!)

Finally the cardy was done and I could get started.  I was a bit sad to realise this pattern was knitted flat and had to be sewn up at the end.  (I hate sewing up!) The only good thing about this was I was working on reasonably small pieces during a heatwave, rather than a whole jumper. So I didn't let that stop me and got my needles out.

The yarn is very soft and an amazing colour going from candyfloss pink to custard yellow and back again in one very big ball - 400g in fact!  (They have a whole range of amazing colours and it was really hard to choose!)

 

But I could have done with a bit more help with the pattern.  The body wasn't too bad, but the detail in the arms - while it looks lovely, took a lot of work to get right.  I think the first arm took 3 attempts while the second was more like 5.  So this has taken a little longer than it really should have.

While the detail at the bottom of the arms was tricky, working out the increases was also tricky and I really would have liked the whole pattern written out.

Maybe I'm just showing my inexperience or maybe I was over thinking it but personally I'm not sure I would mark this as an 'easy' pattern. 

 

Well it's done now.  The colour really is amazing (These photos don't do it justice) and it fits too (although I had to make the arms a little longer than the pattern allowed for). I also decided to knit the collar in the round, so joined the shoulders at the same time to allow me to do this.  If I could have worked out how to, I would have done the whole thing in the round.

So note to self, in the future, check the pattern before buying it - don't just fall for the colour!